


parting ways

by yours_truly



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Angst, Episode: s10e01 My Struggle, F/M, The X-Files Revival
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-26
Updated: 2016-01-26
Packaged: 2018-05-16 08:37:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5821651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yours_truly/pseuds/yours_truly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>she's seen him three times in the past week. it's more than she'd seen him in the past six months.</p>
            </blockquote>





	parting ways

**i. –** o’malley drops the two of them off on the sidewalk precisely where he’d picked them up. mulder’s stubble and general affect are gray, but his clothes look clean, and all in all she’s seen him much worse.

 _why don’t we get lunch and then i can drive you home?_ she asks, feigning casual, her hands stuffed in her pockets to avoid reaching for his arm.

 _no can do,_ he says. _i’ve got somewhere to be._

she doesn’t inquire, just bids him farewell. his sunglasses are back on, and she wishes she could see his eyes instead of her own squinting grimace reflecting back at her.

 

 **ii. –** her heels sink deeply into the grass, causing her to hunch forward a bit to keep as much of her weight on her toes as possible. she’s dressed for concrete and linoleum, not the soft earth of the country.

this time he follows her to the car rather than watching from the porch, and he holds the door open while she buckles the seatbelt.

 _you’re going to get yourself hurt,_ she says.

 _i can’t sit back and do nothing,_ he replies.

therapy taught her to be mindful of her breathing, so she inhales deep and slow as she turns the key in the ignition, trying not to panic. he closes the door, taps once on the roof of the car, then stands back as she reverses away.

 

 **iii. –** somehow they’re both softer tonight, no pointed barbs or raised voices. she doesn’t even have to say please to get him to come to her apartment, their mutual exhaustion and its proximity making a perfect excuse; expediency, nothing more. skinner will wait until tomorrow.

he heads for the couch. she walks toward the bedroom. he has one more thing to say.

 _scully? there’s always a choice,_ he tells her.

without turning around, she lets him know. _and i made mine a long time ago._


End file.
